


Unqualified

by BotchedExperiment



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Caretaking, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, ear infections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 10:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8140165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BotchedExperiment/pseuds/BotchedExperiment
Summary: He's pulled from glorious sleep when his name is called from the other side of the room. "Tadashi?"





	

"This is dumb," Hiro mumbles, hanging upside-down on the sofa. "What are we supposed to do?"

Tadashi sits next to his brother and yanks the little guy up by the arm so he's sitting up the right way. Hiro just returns to his previous upside-down position, so Tadashi decides to join him. They both sigh.

Their aunt Cass left for a business owners conference and left the two of them with a list of stuff not to do. It's only going to be a few days of not staying out late because their aunt doesn’t trust them a ton, and that's fine for Tadashi. He can always have people over to visit and he has some stuff to work on at home anyway.

But Hiro hasn't stopped complaining about 'being under house arrest'.

"Oh, I'm sure we can put together a puzzle or two."

Hiro groans. Tadashi sits up on the couch and his brother does the same.

"Seriously though, we'll find some fun stuff to do. Aunt Cass is gone so we can goof off as much as we want!"

"Really?" Hiro sounds more cynical than hopeful, and Tadashi is a little offended by his brother's lack of trust.

"Yes, really. As long as we don't . . ." He pulls the list out of his pocket and reads off of it, "Use the oven, the stove, stay out past ten, unlock the door for strangers, eat junk food or stay up past midnight."

Hiro doesn't look amused

Tadashi chuckles. "I may have made some up near the end. The point is that we're gonna have a blast."

That night, Tadashi goes to sleep early after listening to Hiro call him an 'old man'.

He's pulled from glorious sleep when his name is called from the other side of the room. "Tadashi?"

Tadashi sighs. He turns over and looks at his clock. What time is it? Too early for his brother to be waking him up, that's what time.

"Hiro, go to sleep." Hiro had a habit of staying up too late, especially when their aunt wasn't around to make him go to bed. He was constantly waking up his older brother for dumb reasons.

"Tadashi . . ." This time the pained tinge to his brother's voice grabs Tadashi's attention.

He sits on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and turning the light on before he goes to his brother. Hiro's curled up in bed, back turned away from Tadashi. He's whimpering, eyes shut tight, acting very un-Hiro-like.

"Hiro, hey," Tadashi says softly, resting his hand on his brother's shoulder in an attempt to turn him over. "What's wrong?"

"It hurts," Hiro chokes out.

"What hurts, buddy?"

"My ear." Hiro starts to cry more and Tadashi panics. Aunt Cass was the one for this job. It was usually her who was woken up in the middle of the night when one of them was sick.

"Alright, Alright. Sit up, okay? Let me take a look at you."

Hiro does as he's told and sits up, pulling his knees to his chin and wiping the tear tracks from his eyes. Tadashi's stomach twists. Hiro was never like this, and Tadashi didn’t know what to do.

"Which ear?"

"Right," Hiro sniffled.

Tadashi barely touches his brother's right ear when Hiro yells out a colorful word that Aunt Cass would kill him for saying. He backs off and watches his brother hiss in pain.

"Okay," Tadashi swallows the nervous lump in his throat, his hands shaking. He wasn’t ready for this tonight. He's never ready to be the adult in these situations. "I'm . . . I'm going to call Aunt Cass real quick."

It doesn’t ring and he's sent to voicemail. The same colorful word comes out of his mouth. When he goes back to his brother, Hiro is sitting on the edge of his bed, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes. God, he must be in a lot of pain.

Tadashi explains to him that their aunt's phone is off, and that he really doesn’t know what to do, except . . .

"We're going to the hospital."

"Tadashi!" Hiro argues.

"I know, I know," He says to his brother sympathetically, placing his hands on Hiro's shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "I don't particularly want to go either . . ."  He briefly remembers being dragged to the ER when Hiro was running a fever and Tadashi was too young to be left home alone. That was their last trip to the emergency room. "Get out of your pajamas and I'll get someone to take us."

\----

"I'm glad you called me," Wasabi looks over at Hiro who's half-asleep on Tadashi's shoulder. "He's not looking too good."

The three of them are seated in the waiting room, heads full of 3AM fog.

Tadashi nods. "He was in so much pain, so I had him take an ibuprofen before you picked us up," He says quietly. "I've never seen him cry in pain like that . . ." Hiro stirs, shifting his position against his brother and going back to his hazy sleeping state.

Wasabi is about to offer some comfort when Hiro's name is called.

He wakes his brother, waves goodbye to Wasabi, and the two of them follow the nurse to an exam room. He tells Hiro to be ready to wait all night because hospitals weren't fast but Hiro just nods and lies down on the hospital bed.  The little guy squeezes his eyes shut and groans when the pain in his ear gets intense.

Tadashi feels helpless whenever his brother goes through a wave of pain. He continues to tell himself, 'You're helping him by bringing him here' but he doesn’t feel any less unqualified for this job.

After about an hour of waiting, a doctor walks in and checks Hiro out. Sleepy Hiro gets his breathing checked, temperature taken, and throat inspected. Tadashi has to hold back his laughter as he watches his brother roll his eyes every time they check a different part of him even though it's his freaking ear that's hurting.

\-----

Wasabi jumps out of his chair when they return. Tadashi can't imagine that his germaphobic friend does well with hospitals, which makes him feel all-the-more guilty about asking for a ride in the middle of the night. "What's the verdict?"

"Swimmer's ear," Tadashi sighs, waving the prescription slip with one hand while his other is on his grumpy brother's shoulder.

"Jeez, really?"

"And uh, I have a favor to ask." He waves the slip and little more this time with a cautious, pleading look on his face.

And of course, Wasabi smiles and nods. "Of course. Let's go."

The drugstore parking lot is completely empty besides their car driving in.

Tadashi looks back at his brother before he gets out of the car. "I'm just going to run in and get your prescription, okay buddy?" Hiro nods, wincing in pain. "You two behave out here."

Tadashi leaves and Wasabi looks back to check on his friend's sibling. Hiro is curled up in the back seat, his hand covering his right ear protectively.

"I just wanna go home." He mumbled.

"Well, these ear drops are really important."

A groan.

"They help bring down the swelling in your ear canal and-"

"Ugh. Wasabi."

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." Wasabi says with a chuckle.

The car is silent for a very long time.

"What's taking him so long?" Hiro's voice is more strangled this time. The pain gets more intense by the second and he can barely do anything without his attention going to it. The ibuprofen must be wearing off.

"They must still be getting it ready. Are you okay, little buddy?"

"Y-yeah."

Wasabi isn't super convinced. "He'll be back in no time. Then you can go home and get some rest."

\-----

"Thanks again, man," Tadashi says while he's ushering his little brother inside.

Wasabi waves it off. "Anytime. Feel better!" He calls to Hiro, who's already heading up to his bedroom.

Hiro grunts in response.

Tadashi scoffs, shaking his head of the exhaustion nagging him. "Think he's ready to sleep."

"You look like you're gonna crash too." Wasabi pats his friend's shoulder and smiles despite the situation.

"Yeah, I'd better go up and give him these ear drops before he falls asleep." He says, gesturing to the little prescription bag in his hand. "Or before I fall asleep."

Wasabi chuckles. "Sleep well and all that."

"Thank you so much." Before Tadashi can stop himself, he wraps his friend in the biggest hug he can possibly give while dead-tired. Wasabi gasps, and then returns the hug.

"As long as Hiro gets better it was worth it. Poor little guy."

Tadashi doesn’t know how to thank him anymore. It can't be fun for anyone to be asked for a favor so late at night. "Well, next time you need help, let me know. I owe you. I still can't believe I dragged you around the city in the middle of the night."

"There's one thing you could do for me," Wasabi tells him, looking cautious.

"Sure, anything!"

"Let me crash on your couch for the night."

Tadashi laughs.

"I think I can deal with that, yeah."

 


End file.
